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The  Other  White  House; 

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An                 rati  on   of    the   un. 

reliability   of   history   con« 

cerning  Abraham  LJnco 

LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


THE  OTHER  WHITE  HOUSE 

AN  ILLUSTRATION 

OF  THE 

UNRELIABILITY  OF  HISTORY 

CONCERNING  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 

HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


32  &££,/&-  Rcom 

THE  STORY 

The  Washington  Star  of  February  11,  1923,  con- 
tained an  article  of  more  than  three  columns,  em- 
bellished with  two  photographs,  and  having  the  fol- 
lowing headlines: 

"BRIDE  OF  1862  GIVEN  IN  MARRIAGE  BY  LIN- 
COLN TELLS  OF  ELOPEMENT  AND 
WHITE  HOUSE  VISIT 

Indiana  Woman,  Former  Virginian,  Says  She  and 
Her  Lover,  Unable  to  Wed  at  Harper's  Ferry, 
Went  to  Executive  Mansion  Because  They 
'Didn't  Know  Any  Better.'  President  Sum- 
moned Clergyman  for  Ceremony — Gay  Wed- 
ding Party  Held — Bridegroom  Kept  Wife's 
Promise  That  He  Should  Serve  in  Union  Army. 
Mrs.  Chandler  at  Eighty  Recalls  Unique  Event." 

This  article  commences:  'To  have  been  married 
in  the  White  House  in  President  Lincoln's  adminis- 
tration, to  have  been  given  away  as  a  bride  by  the 
President  himself,  to  have  eaten  the  wedding  sup- 
per at  the  great  statesman's  table,  and  to  have  spent 
the  first  night  of  married  life  in  the  executive  man- 
sion— all  this  is  a  distinction.  The  unique  experi- 
ence is  one  that  is  vividly  remembered  by  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Chandler,  a  bride  of  1862,  who  now  lives  at 
2819  East  Lynn  street,  Anderson,  Ind. 

Mrs.  Chandler,  who  is  eighty  years  of  age,  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  only  living  woman  who  was  married 
in  the  White  House  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  time  and  the 
only  woman  not  of  a  President's  family  ever  to  be 
married  in  the  President's  residence. 

However,  she  sees  nothing  unusual  about  it  all, 
but  recalls  the  time  when  she  and  her  youthful 
suitor,  James  Henry  Chandler,  after  several  months 
of  secret  courtship,  eloped  from  their  homes  near 
Mount  Sidney,  Va.,  and  went  to  Harper's  Ferry  to 
be  married. 

Upon  hearing  that  on  account  of  local  conditions 
they  could  not  be  married  at  that  place,  they  took 
the  next  stage  to  Washington.     Making  their  way 


to  the  White  House,  they  finally  gained  admission, 
told  President  Lincoln  of  their  disappointment  at 
Harper's  Ferry,  and  were  married  by  a  Baptist  min- 
ister, to  whom  Mr.  Lincoln  sent  a  gently  peremptory 
S.  0.  S." 

Then  follows  a  detailed  account  of  the  wedding, 
a  cabinet  member  the  best  man,  the  preacher  kissed 
the  bride  and  Lincoln  did  not,  of  a  dance  after  a 
midnight  supper  at  which  hot  punch  was  served, 
etc.,  etc. 

This  story  has  appeared  in  other  newspapers  and 
unfortunately  is  now  history,  having  recently  been 
accepted  and  printed  at  some  length  in  a  179-page 
book  about  Lincoln  by  a  President  of  an  historical 
society. 

THE  FACTS 

This  woman  was  not  married  in  the  Executive 
Mansion;  she  never  was  in  Washington  during  the 
civil  war,  having  been  within  the  Confederate  lines 
during  the  entire  war;  and  she  never  saw  Abraham 
Lincoln.  The  story  has  just  enough  truth  in  it  to 
be  amusing. 

In  October,  1862,  James  H.  Chandler  was  in  the 
rebel  army.  The  records  of  the  War  Department 
show  "James  H.  Chandler,  residence,  Augusta  Co., 
Va.,  enlisted  at  Mt.  Meridian,  June  15,  1862,  as  pri- 
vate in  Co.  F,  52  Virginia  Inft.  C.  S.  A.,  was  cap- 
tured at  Bristow  Station,  Va.,  Oct.  19,  1863,  con- 
fined at  Old  Capitol  Prison,  Washington,  and  was 
released  on  taking  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  the  United 
States  December  13,  1863,  and  sent  north  Dec.  17, 
1863."  Letter  of  Adjutant  General,  U.  S.  A.,  Sept. 
30,  1925,  to  compiler. 

James  H.  Chandler  then  assumed  the  name  of 
James  Grimes,  and  receiving  considerable  bounty, 
he  enlisted  as  James  Grimes  at  Gloucester,  N.  J., 
Dec.  29,  1863,  in  Co.  A.  1  N.  J.  Cav.  U.  S.  A.,  served 
until  July  24,  1865,  and  as  per  the  newspaper  ac- 
count did  not  return  to  his  wife  until  about  1870. 
Record  of  New  Jersey  Soldiers,  Civil  War,  Vol.  2, 
page  1184. 


WHEN  THEY  WERE  MARRIED 

Alphabetical  index  of  marriage  licenses,  Clerk's 
office,  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia, 
personally  searched  for  record  of  marriage  of  James 
H.  Chandler  and  Elizabeth  A.  Sheets. 

Old  records,  Vol.  3,  A  to  L,  page  137. 

James  H.  Chandler,  Elizabeth  A.  Sheits,  Oct.  31, 
1859. 

Vol.  4,  M  to  Z,  page  214. 

Elizabeth  A.  Sheits,  James  H.  Chandler,  Oct.  31, 
1859. 

An  official  contemporaneous  record  showing  issue 
of  the  marriage  license,  one  year,  four  months  and 
three  days  before  Lincoln  was  first  inaugurated, 
March  4,  1861. 

The  trial  of  John  Brown,  the  Liberator,  at  Charles 
Town,  Virginia,  in  Oct.  1859,  explains  the  local  con- 
ditions at  that  point. 

WHERE  THEY  WERE  MARRIED 

There  were  no  returns  to  marriage  licenses  in 
Washington  in  1859,  so  there  is  no  official  record  in 
the  court  house  as  to  place  of  marriage  or  as  to  who 
performed  the  ceremony.  Information  directly  from 
Mrs.  Chandler  is  that  she  always  stated  when  seri- 
ous on  the  subject  that  she  was  "married  in  what 
was  called  the  White  House  Hotel." 

The  White  House  Hotel.  Shades  of  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, where  was  that  ? 

THE  OTHER  WHITE  HOUSE 

The  White  House  also  known  as  Rodier's  Hotel, 
was  situated  at  the  N.  W.  corner  of  Wisconsin  ave- 
nue and  Grace  street,  in  1859  in  the  City  of  George- 
town, was  a  three  story  brick  building  with  the 
usual  saloon  on  the  ground  floor  and  was  demolished 
twenty-five  years  ago.  A  small  store  also  painted 
white  is  now  on  the  corner. 

Wisconsin  avenue,  formerly  High  street,  was  a 
highway  between  the  north  and  south,  the  ferry 


across  the  Potomac  was  at  the  foot  of  the  hill,  one 
block  from  this  White  House;  the  Harper's  Ferry 
stages  came  along  this  street,  which  crossed  the 
Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Canal,  then  an  important 
waterway,  by  a  bridge  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
hotel.  The  north  wall  of  the  hotel  was  at  the  south 
wall  of  the  canal. 

Abstracted  from  D.  C.  directories : 

1858.  Anthony  Rodier,  clerk  White  House  Hotel, 
bds.  do. 

1860.  Hotels.  White  House,  C.  Anthony  Rodier, 
33  High  St. 

1867.    Charles  A.  Rodier,  restaurant,  33  High  St. 

1872-1874-1875.     Advertisement. 

White  House  Restaurant 

and  Bowling  Saloon 

33  High  Street 

The  Bar  is  Stocked  with  Choice  Wines, 
Liquors  and  Cigars. 

fi£^~  Meals  at  all  hours.    Oysters  and  Game 
in  season. 

Anthony  Rodier,  Proprietor. 

Alas,  no  more  are  choice  wines  and  liquors  to  be 
obtained  where  Charles  Anthony  Rodier  and  not 
Abraham  Lincoln  prepared  the  hot  punch  for  that 
wedding  in  1859. 

L.  D.  CARMAN,  M.  D., 

1806  Lamont  St., 
Washington,  D.  C. 
Jan.  1926. 


//' 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973.7L63B2C210  C001 

THE  OTHER  WHITE  HOUSE  WASH  DC 


3  0112  031793927 


